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Geiger Counter

Geiger Counter pedal, front view: a yellow enclosure with Out, In, 9VDC and CV In jacks along the top edge, a red WMD logo, red Gain and Tone knobs beside a Tone Enable/Disable toggle, a two-digit red Wave Table display, red Sample Rate and Bit Depth knobs with small LEDs beside a Bits/Mask toggle, a black push-mode Wave Table knob, a red Volume knob, and a footswitch with a red LED set into a red radiation-hazard symbol above the Geiger Counter name.

Digital destruction guitar pedal

1Introduction

Thank you for purchasing your new WMD Geiger Counter and welcome to the world of digital destruction.

2Features

Geiger Counter Features:

  • High Gain Modern Preamp
  • Dramatic Tone Control
  • Sample Rate: 260Hz - 58kHz
  • Tone Disable for Alt Response
  • 1-8 Bit Depth/Mask
  • 252 Wave Table Modulator
  • Relay True Bypass
  • CV Input
  • Epoxy/Powder Coat Finish
  • Top Quality Components
  • Always Saves Settings
  • Standard 9V Center (-) Power

3Controls

Geiger Counter front panel layout. Jacks along the top edge: Out, In, 9VDC and CV In (labeled Key In on this drawing). Below the WMD logo: Gain and Tone knobs, a Tone Enable/Disable toggle, and the two-digit Wave Table display. Middle row: Sample Rate knob and Bit Depth knob (numbered 1 to 8), each with an LED at its upper left, a Bits/Mask toggle, and the Wave Table knob marked Push Mode. Bottom: footswitch with LED inside a radiation-hazard symbol, and the Volume knob.
Geiger Counter front panel.

3.1Gain

Gain. Low settings provide clean tones with no distortion at all, while high settings will brickwall your signal for great sustain. Use the Gain control as a coarse setting for getting the desired tone from the selected wave table.

3.2Tone

Tone. The Geiger Counter’s tone control blends muffled low-mids with chimey and clear upper mids and highs, providing a very large range of sounds in junction with the Gain. All the way down and the sound is muffled and grungy with little upper harmonic content. The middle range is smooth and full bodied. The top range cuts the lows completely for only upper harmonic content. Use the Tone to fine tune the sound of the wave table.

3.3Tone Enable/Disable

Tone Enable/Disable. This switch removes the tone control from the preamp circuit. The tone control sucks some volume from the gain, and this allows the pure ultra hot signal to go directly into the Wave Table. If a very clean tone is desired, set to Disable and adjust the gain to get the right amount of breakup. For most wave tables, disabling the Tone will produce completely different sounds by brickwalling to the extremes of the tables faster.

3.4Sample Rate

Sample Rate. Controls the length of the samples your signal is converted into. Full up and the Geiger Counter samples faster than a CD. Dial it down a little and you’ll lower the fidelity and frequency response, adding overtones and difference frequencies. Down a little produces some very nice chimey clean tones. Down more and higher notes disappear into difference frequencies, all the way down to 260Hz. The sample rate is sort of like a flange whammy.

The LED by the Sample Rate knob shows the CV In and coarse/fine modes. When green, CV In is active. When red, the sample rate is changed in smaller increments (fine mode), allowing for smoother adjustment for the high range of sample rates. The LED is yellow if CV In and fine mode are both active. Push the Wave Table knob to change the modes of the Bit Depth and Sample Rate LEDs.

3.5Bit Depth

Bit Depth. This controls the finer details of the signal. All up and your signal is represented by the full 8 bits. Each step down cuts the resolution in half, adding quantization error distortion, all the way down to 1 bit making a nasty square wave from a once clean tone. This produces a lo-fi gated distortion sound.

The LED by the Bit Depth knob shows the CV In and post/pre wave table modes. When green, CV In is active. The Bit Depth function is available before (LED red) or after (LED off) the wave table algorithms for different sounds. Use the bit depth before wave table mode to change the response of the wave table. The LED is yellow if CV In and pre wave table modes are both active.

3.6Bits/Mask

Bits/Mask. This switch controls how the Bit Depth knob works. In Bits mode, the Bit Depth knob reduces the resolution of the signal. In Mask mode, the signal is filtered through a number (0 to 255). This mode can be used to reduce noise and add gain. In pre wave table mode, it can turn off small ranges of the wave table, creating altered harmonic content from the tables. Adjust the knob to taste when in Mask mode.

3.7Wave Table

Wave Table. This knob and display select the wave table to run your signal through. The wave table stage takes your signal and destroys it with math. This produces some incredible sounds. The wave tables are organized so that a more extreme version is typically found one up from the current one. There are 252 wave tables in all, each with different harmonic content.

The display is in HEX, displaying the numbers 0-9 and the letters A-F. Don’t be alarmed, it actually makes remembering your desired wave table easier! The wave table is remembered when the pedal is turned off.

4CV Input

The Geiger Counter’s CV In can be set to affect the Bit Depth, Sample Rate or both at the same time. Push the Wave Table knob to set the CV In destination (the LEDs by the Sample Rate and Bit Depth knobs will become green when CV In is active on them). Note that if yellow, CV In is active while the Sample Rate is in fine mode, or the Bit Depth is set pre wave table.

CV In has a jack sensor, so CV settings can only be applied while a cable is installed in the pedal. The Geiger Counter will cycle through the red modes unless a cable is plugged into CV In.

The Geiger Counter can use any standard expression pedal, LFO or other CV (control voltage) source.

The Geiger Counter supplies 5.6 volts at the ring of the CV In jack, ground on the sleeve and signal input (CV or Expression Pedal Control) on the tip. Using a cable without a ring will cause this voltage to be shorted to ground, and will not hurt the Geiger Counter.

5Power

Power Adapter. The Geiger Counter uses the Boss style 9 Volt power adapter. These adapters have the positive (+) on the sleeve and the negative (-) on the pin.

The power inlet is reverse polarity protected, and is over voltage protected to 24V. The acceptable voltage range is 8-10V DC. Voltages outside this range will not send power to the pedal, so it will be off.

Using a power supply is required as the Geiger Counter draws 30-40mA. This consumption has been minimized by design, but is still significant.

6Example Settings

  • Gated Blast settings: Gain about 10 o’clock, Tone about 4 o’clock, Tone switch Enable, Sample Rate about 4 o’clock with its LED off, Bit Depth about 6 with its LED off, Bits/Mask switch Mask, Wave Table 1F, Volume about 1 o’clock.
    Gated Blast
  • Guitar to Angry Synth settings: Gain about 4 o’clock, Tone 12 o’clock, Tone switch Disable, Sample Rate about 4 o’clock with its LED off, Bit Depth 8 with its LED off, Bits/Mask switch Mask, Wave Table 94, Volume about 1 o’clock.
    Guitar to Angry Synth
  • Lo Fi Power Guitar settings: Gain 9 o’clock, Tone about 4 o’clock, Tone switch Enable, Sample Rate about 4 o’clock with its LED off, Bit Depth between 4 and 5 with its LED lit (pre wave table), Bits/Mask switch Mask, Wave Table c6, Volume about 2 o’clock.
    Lo Fi Power Guitar
  • Clean Lo Fi settings: Gain about 7 o’clock, Tone about 2 o’clock, Tone switch Enable, Sample Rate 3 o’clock with its LED lit (fine mode), Bit Depth 8 with its LED off, Bits/Mask switch Mask, Wave Table 21, Volume about 2 o’clock.
    Clean Lo Fi
  • Power Filter settings: Gain about 4 o’clock, Tone 9 o’clock, Tone switch Enable, Sample Rate about 2 o’clock with its LED lit (fine mode), Bit Depth 8 with its LED off, Bits/Mask switch Mask, Wave Table 5d, Volume about 1 o’clock.
    Power Filter
  • Tubey Overdrive settings: Gain 9 o’clock, Tone about 11 o’clock, Tone switch Enable, Sample Rate about 4 o’clock with its LED off, Bit Depth 8 with its LED off, Bits/Mask switch Mask, Wave Table 20, Volume about 1 o’clock.
    Tubey Overdrive
  • Distorting Computer Beeps settings: Gain about 7 o’clock, Tone 12 o’clock, Tone switch Disable, Sample Rate about 4 o’clock with its LED lit (fine mode), Bit Depth 8 with its LED off, Bits/Mask switch Mask, Wave Table 98, Volume about 2 o’clock.
    Distorting Computer Beeps
  • Fat Overdrive Lead settings: Gain about 10 o’clock, Tone about 2 o’clock, Tone switch Enable, Sample Rate about 4 o’clock with its LED lit (fine mode), Bit Depth 6 with its LED off, Bits/Mask switch Bits, Wave Table 5b, Volume 12 o’clock.
    Fat Overdrive Lead
  • Ring Modulation settings: Gain about 4 o’clock, Tone about 7 o’clock, Tone switch Enable, Sample Rate 12 o’clock with its LED off, Bit Depth 8 with its LED off, Bits/Mask switch Mask, Wave Table 06, Volume 12 o’clock.
    Ring Modulation

7Support

WMD is located in Denver, CO. Reach us by email at info@wmdevices.com. For more on the Geiger Counter, including video demos, visit the product page.

Visit the Geiger Counter product page (opens in a new window)